God, The Government and Our Role as Christians

I would like to start this off by saying there has been a lot of things being brought up concerning the issues stemming from our government from Christians.

I was one of those people. I got carried away as I always do in the political situation going on.

I had a brother in Christ call me out on this in a gentle way. Of which I truly accepted as correction in love.

So that said, I would like to present something for us all to think about. Some of what I will say may not go well with many. But I am not here to patronize anyone. I am here to give glory to my Creator and Saviour. I am here to present somethings that I feel the Lord has put on my heart.

I hope to point out the Christians role in government, and explain why I feel the United States is not and never was a Christian nation. I will try and present the Sovereignty of God in all that is going on in our lives and what we are told to do about it.



First the soveriegnty of God in government.



"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." Isaiah 9:6-7



So there you see the sovereignty of God! The government shall be upon His shoulder! And of the increase of His government (the body) and of peace there will be no end....In the end we shall overcome because He already has.



What is our role in our government? Now I am not saying a Christian shouldn't run for office or vote! Hear me on this, if you are living in the United States then that was ordained of God also. So take advantage of our freedoms to vote and run for public offices.

Yet what I am about to go with this is, we are not to slander anyone not even our enemies.



"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." Luke 6:27-28



We are also to be subject to the governing authorities granted to an extent of them not telling us to stop preaching and proclaiming. Yet Paul in the book of Romans explains what our role is concerning the governing authorities.



"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (more sovereignty of God) Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, (God's sovreignty) and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will recieve his approval, for he is God's servant for your good." Romans 13:1-4



"Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this if the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people." 1 Peter 2:13-15



So if we are doing good then we should not fear the government as God is in total control. Yet He uses the authority to pass earthly judgment to those who are doing bad. The governing authority carries out God's wrath on the earthly realm on the wrongdoer.



I am not advocating that we not continue to assemble with each other or stop evangelizing if the government makes that illegal. Because that is a mandate from God.

There are many men and women who are in jails across the world for evangelizing and meeting while it is illegal in their nations. Yet God is blessing them and they are enduring through to the end, because of who their real Father is. So if we get jailed for doing what God has told us then we are in His will. We are to be peaceful about it and not war with the governing authorities if they come for you.



"But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29


We as Christians need to be careful of what we say to each other and about others. We are not given authority to slander others.
"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Colossians 4:5-6
What I wrote above is just a small amount of scripture discribing our role and the government.
Now to tackle the issue of whether the United States is a Christian nation or has it ever been.
I would like to say what the founding fathers did was to use the bible to establish the rule of law for our nation. Does that make it Christian? No! Because this nation is made of wretched people who need a Saviour. Not every person in the nation at any given time was or is a Christian.
To be a Christian nation shouldn't it be nothing, but Christians ruled by Christians? Look at the Islamic nations. There is no doubt those nations are Muslim. They are ruled by the Koran and by Muslim leaders.
Our leaders are not all Christian. Christians are not even of this world, so why would God want to put His stamp on a nation that is not of His world? Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world."
We have mistakenly been led to think that this nation is a Christian nation and in turn we have weakened the church. In doing so we don't evangelize or preach the truth like we should be doing. A lot of people assume just because they are born to Christian parents that they are automatically Christian. Or just because they are born in the United States that they are Christian.
We should never label ourselves a Christian nation. We who are Christian know who we are and where we live. I could move to another country and yet that doesn't make it a Christian nation.
Yes the forefathers used the bible to make rules, law and government. But they also used the bible to justify slavery. They also took a people group and forced them onto reservations. Our forefathers weren't here first. This country was a pagan country.
God has blessed us who live here, but we can't justify the blessings and curses put on Israel as our own if we don't follow Him as a nation.
Those of us who are the Saints of God are individuals who dwell in a country and are ambassadors of the world.
We must be kingdom minded and not earthly minded.
I love the United States and am not being "unpatriotic" for what I am saying. I am just trying to be honest about an issue that stems from pulpits of which can't be justified by the scritptures.
Now we are called to evangelize, pray and disciple. If this was a Christian nation then that should have already been finished, but it's not and we still have work to do.
So pray for the government, don't be divisive and reach the lost.